Coliseum,
London
28 August 2024
Maggie Foyer
For Nina Ananiashvili, it was an evening of celebration as she returned to London now as Artistic Director of the State Ballet of Georgia. The company presented Swan Lake, in a handsome and very traditional production restaged by Alexei Fadeyechev with Ananiashvili. They were former dance partners and both steeped in Bolshoi tradition.
Ananiashvili enjoyed a scintillating performing career. Over twenty years as principal at the Bolshoi Ballet and a regular and much-loved guest at American Ballet Theatre, Houston Ballet and the Royal Ballet in London. However, this production harks back to Soviet days rather than drawing on more modern American or English versions. It is a neatly trimmed down version at around two and a quarter hours, divided into two acts and four scenes making a more manageable evening. Nureyev’s Paris Opera version also runs third and fourth acts as well as bringing a classical flavour to the national dances, a style evident in the Georgian Ballet’s version. Also trimmed were the mime sections. The urgency for the Prince to find a bride was given little prominence and more regrettably, Odette’s sorrowful tale is missing, a moment that would have heightened the emotion sadly lacking in the meeting of Prince and Swan Queen.
The State Ballet of Georgia
Image: Sasha Gusov
However, Swan Lake is a ballet about swans and they are worthy of star billing. Precisely matched and well-rehearsed, they danced with energy and passion when they had the opportunity and faultlessly framed the action. I found the tempi at times a little too brisk to allow more fluidity in the arms but Papuna Gvaberidze, conducting the English National Opera Orchestra, brought out the full drama in Tchaikovsky’s music.
Nino Samadashvili and Oleg Ligai
Image: Sasha Gusov
The opening night cast featured Nino Samadashvili in the dual role of Odette/ Odile partnered by Oleg Ligai as her Prince Siegfried. Samadashvili evidenced the fine technical training we expect from Tbilisi’s Vakhtang Chabukiani School, moulding her tall frame to the iconic shapes of the Swan Queen. However, the deep-rooted emotion that should well up and find expression through the arms and torso was minimal. Ligai, a seasoned performer was also strangely disengaged from the drama. He partnered well but this was not a love match, rather a very well executed pas de deux.
The couple seemed more at home in the jewel-coloured medieval ballroom. Samadashvili cool and strong, zapped through the multiple pirouettes and a full set of fouettés, annoyingly breaking the action to take a bow in between, while Ligai found good opportunities to display his excellent split jetés. Marcelo Soares, as Baron von Rothbart, now dispensing with his bizarre, plumed headdress from the earlier act, acted with commanding authority.
The Czardas is the first of the national dances, followed by a lively Neapolitan featuring Tomone Kagawa. She had danced the first of the female solos in Act 1, and again lit up the stage with her warmth and charm.
State Ballet of Georgia
Image:Sasha Gusov
The Mazurka, a lively piece of folk inspired choreography also featured an outstanding, uncredited soloist. I wish the programme had given full credits. The obligatory prospective brides were swept off stage by the dramatic entrance of a Spanish quartet followed by Odile accompanied by Rothbart, a sequence that made good dramatic sense. This scene was a better showcase for the company dancers. They danced well in the first act but there was little to challenge them in the staid choreography. However, Efe Burak as Benno proved a talent to watch, a strong dancer with an engaging personality.
The last scene, back at the lakeside, gave little opportunity for heightened emotion from Odette and Siegfried. The final battle between Prince and Rothbart, ending in the death of the magician, was a non-event, in need of more dramatic action. A discrete onstage costume change gets Odette back to mortal dress for a final embrace and a happy ending. I wished Ananiashvili had sprinkled some of her charismatic personality into this production or brought some of the wealth of experience from her international career to enhance the theatricality. There seemed to be a mine of untapped potential in the company waiting to break free.
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